Immigrant farm workers harvest broccoli south of Yuma, Arizona.(David McNew/Getty Images)
LINCOLN — A Nebraska “guest worker permit” bill for undocumented immigrants drew support Monday from the bulk of public testifiers, while the biggest pushback came from Nebraska’s labor commissioner and the proposer’s fellow lawmakers.
State Sen. Dunixi Guereca of Omaha told the Legislature’s Business and Labor Committee that the Guest Worker Permit Act he introduced would set up a legal framework for undocumented immigrants to work in Nebraska — provided the federal government allows it.
He called Legislative Bill 879 a “trigger law,” meaning that Nebraska would be ready to go if given the green light by the feds, but he said it would not bypass federal authority or grant a legal status.
State officials estimated Nebraska’s undocumented population at between 50,000 and 60,000 people, based on data from the Migration Policy Institute and the American Immigration Council.
“We need workers. Period. You can not dispute that — it’s stagnating the Nebraska economy,” Guereca said. “If the native population isn’t bringing more workers, we need immigration.”
Wary about being ‘experiment’
State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln asked more than once about other states that might have tested such a program, noting that Utah tried but was unsuccessful and that she was wary.
State Sen. Teresa Ibach of Sumner wanted to know how close the federal government was to opening the door. To that, Guereca and others said Nebraska could take a lead and send a signal that such a program was key to the state’s workforce and economic health.
State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of the Elkhorn area spent a half hour peppering Guereca with questions on various elements of the 13-page proposal. Guereca said he wanted to start what he believed to be a necessary conversation, and would be amenable to negotiations.
For Katie Thurber, Nebraska’s labor commissioner, LB 879 creates “constitutional, financial and logistical concerns.” She said she wanted to avoid the state potentially spending years and dollars to prepare for a system that she might never function.
“Immigration is and must remain a federal matter,” said Thurber, who was the lone opponent to testify during the public hearing. “It requires comprehensive solutions from Congress and federal agencies, not piecemeal state level experiments that have been proven ineffective.”
A fiscal analysis of LB 879, based upon the undocumented population estimates, puts the cost to implement the legislation the first year at about $5.18 million, for various administrative, interviewing, tracking and enforcement responsibilities.
Projected revenues would surpass that amount, according to the analysis, which estimates about $37 million in revenue the first year from Labor Department application and permit fees. The analysis notes that it does not include what would be a positive impact from fees collected by the Department of Revenue, as those are yet to be determined.
Said Guereca: “At a time we’re half a billion in the hole, this one’s a no-brainer.”
‘No-brainer’
Under the Act, undocumented individuals would pay $50 for a guest worker application and $20 for an application for an immediate family member. If a permit is granted, applicants then would pay $2,500 if they entered the U.S. illegally or $1,000 if their legal entrance has fallen out of compliance with federal immigration law.
The State Department of Labor estimated that 25% of applicants would comprise the illegal entry group and the remainder would be those who had fallen out of compliance for reasons such as overstaying a visa.
LB 879 also calls for Nebraska’s governor to “actively participate” in the Nebraska Labor Department’s efforts to obtain necessary federal waivers, exemptions or authorizations to implement the program.
Gov. Jim Pillen has been a champion of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation strategy and has characterized Nebraska as a “border state” affected by security problems at the nation’s southern border. He has worked with the federal government to convert the state’s McCook-based Work Ethic Camp, a former state prison in southwest Nebraska, into a regional detention facility for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Among the half-dozen proponents who spoke in favor of LB 879 were farm and other labor leaders and immigrant advocates.
Jon Nebel of the Nebraska State Council of Electrical Workers and the Nebraska Building and Construction Trades Council said the program could legitimize thousands of people already working in Nebraska and stop the abuse of an underground workforce.
He said the bill was not seeking to “greenlight the possibility of a bunch of undocumented workers coming here. They’re already here.”
A guest worker permit program could tap into a ready workforce needed for the trades, agriculture and other industries, Nebel said, and keep employers from playing “a game of hide and exploit.”
State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, who chairs the Business and Labor Committee, said 10 proponents and 50 opponents submitted comments in writing.
The committee took no action on whether to forward the bill to the full Legislature for debate.
